P#25: A Photograph of a Lovely Dancer in Motion
Joe McNally explains how he captured motion in this shot of a lovely dancer mid air
It's not always easy to capture motion and grace in a still photograph, but this picture does so beautifully. How did Joe McNally manage it? He was kind enough to share his secrets during his 7 Photography Questions interview.
Motion in a Still
Joe McNally: This photograph of a lovely dancer is on my website. It's not a picture I oftentimes deal with. It was shot for the Nikon Corporation. We were testing some lighting equipment for them and they gave me a pretty free and open playing field, so I selected dance as my subject matter.
She's a lovely dancer and we were in an industrial type of studio looking to the west. You can see there's a sunset glow out those windows. Because I was trying to accommodate that fading sunset condition out the window, my shutter speed on my camera was pretty low. Hence you get the sense of motion in her legs when she's in the air. (click the image for a larger version)
She's looking at a flash or a strobe that's off the camera right. Her gesture is up into that light and the scene is set up to blend the exposure of the interior flash and the exterior sunset. Hence there's -- almost by happenstance really -- we got the indication of motion in her legs.
Audri Lanford: I love that motion in her legs. To me, that is just so striking of what she's doing and how she's moving.
Joe McNally: She's a lovely dancer. It's an older photograph, but photographs like these stick with you.
In Closing
When you have a bit of creative freedom in your shots, you can come up with some pretty amazing photographs. Joe chose dance as his subject in this photograph and used a low shutter speed capture the movement of the beautiful dancer in this shot.
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